Laziness, Tempered: Mazda Designs a Sofa and a Bike

Alexander Stoklosa

Apr 14, 2015

Stefania D'Alessandro/Getty Images for Mazda Motor Co.

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We really like symmetry—especially when it comes to design. It seems Mazda is on the very same page, reading the very same line, because for its “Mazda Design: The Car as Art exhibit in Milan,” the automaker has introduced two objects styled with the attractive Kodo design language proliferating throughout its car lineup. One is a bicycle, a perfect fit for Kodo’s energetic style—just look at the spunky 2016 MX-5 Miata parked next to it above—while the other is . . . a couch. But hey—like fire and ice, yin and yang, what better foil could there be for an active device like a bike than a place to crash when you’re finished riding it?

Stefania D'Alessandro/Getty Images for Mazda Motor Co.

According to Mazda, “under the KODO—Soul of Motion design theme, Mazda’s new-generation vehicles express a powerful motion full of life, such as that displayed by animals in the wild.” Okay, so the “Sofa by KODO concept,” as Mazda’s calling it, might not be totally congruent with notions of Zoom-Zoom-y feral animals or whatever, but it sure looks sweet. The “Bike by KODO concept,” on the other hand, certainly fits the bill. It’s a minimalist design—you could call it the Miata of fixie bikes—with a frame “painstakingly formed by hammering a single sheet of steel.” Would that be a . . . Skyactiv frame? Either way, the two Kodo objects show not only that Mazda can make a nice place to sit, as well as a nice-looking but uncomfortable place to sit while bouncing down the road, but it is also supremely confident in its Kodo styling language. We say keep pressing it further—Mazda’s cars are some of the hottest-looking out there, mainstream or otherwise.